Fairgroundhistory

Fairgroundhistory

Days Gone By

"The Show People"

The people who run the rides, stalls and games at a fair are called showpeople. Different generations of these show families have been working in fairs for hundreds of years.

The route of the travelling season for show families hardly changed in the last hundred years.

Each family visit more than forty fairs during the main travelling season mainly between March and November.

About The 'Pull On' And 'Build Up'

Between the years 1830 and 1900, new trade exhibitations andagricultral shows made fairs less importent as places for business. During this time, too, many people moved away from the countryside to find jobs in the new factory towns. The jobs were hard, and the factorys depressing. The workers wanted to have some fun in their spare time.

The arrival of a fair is called the 'Pull on'. Before 'Pull on' starts, the ground is marked into numbers sites so the showpeole know where to "Build up; their rides and stalls. Pull on usally starts on the weekend before the fair is due to open. The bigger rides arrive first because they take hours to build up. During the early part of the week the rest of the rides and stalls arrive, untill, by mid- week, it is all set up.

'Swag Alley'

Tucked away around trailers etc. is a shopping place for showpeople. They can buy prizes, sweets, coloured light bulbes, metal goods and dosens of other things.

'Pull Down' And 'Pull Off'

Eventually the fair had to come to an end. As soon as the last note of music sounded, the showpeople started to take down the rides amd stalls. They called this the 'Pull down'. The equiptment was taken down and loaded on the trailers. Traction enging then pulled the trailers to the fairs next destination. They left overnight leaving hardly a trace.

WANT TO SEE A NON FAIRGROUND WEBSITE, THE LINKS ARE HERE.

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� to Katie Robinson

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